Your Heart Will Be Changed
Each year, Sharon Baptist Church in Olathe, Ks., sends its youth on a mission trip. Last summer, when church member and City Union Mission board member Mark Sewalson told them about the need for volunteer counselors and staff at City Union Mission’s summer camp, they jumped at this ministry opportunity close to home.
“When I was a kid, someone sacrificed for me to go to camp,” shares Scott Murphy, minister of music and youth. “I received the training to know the Lord at camp. I decided I should sacrifice for these kids.”
Twelve youth and adults from the church volunteered as counselors, assistant counselors and cooks for a week at primary camp for boys and girls, ages 7 to 8. The church’s Youth Praise Band got involved, too, providing worship music during morning and evening devotions.
“Volunteering at camp is very rewarding,” says Scott’s son, Taylor, who served as an assistant counselor. “At the beginning of the week, the kids do not want to obey — they don’t want to be there. By the end of the week, they don’t want to leave; they don’t want to go back to their homes.”
Scott says it took only a short time to get close to the boys in his cabin.
“One night, I prayed with each boy at his bed,” Scott remembers. “One kid said, ‘I don’t know if I’m saved.’ So he prayed to receive Christ right there in his bunk. Later, he said, ‘I don’t know why I’m shaking.’ That’s God working your life I told him.”
“After hearing their hearts, it’s so hard releasing them,” Scott continues. “At 8 years old, these kids have seen things most 18-year-olds don’t see. One of my kids lifted his pant leg to show me where he’d been stabbed. And he was 8!”
Thanks to the love and commitment of nearly 250 volunteers, these kids experience six days where all the noise—the hatred, the violence, the disrespect—is stripped away. They get at least one week to hear the Word of God and the Gospel proclaimed.
Sometimes, Scott says, a week is all it takes to give these kids the desire and the tools to live different lives when they are adults.
Sharon Baptist Church will be back for our 2007 camp season. Is your heart breaking for hurting kids? Call (816) 474-9380, ext. 1487 and let us find a service opportunity that’s right for you!
